The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from Katrina Van Tassel's POV
by brook.gassmanchickenzombies
Summary: The Hessian has been reeking havoc in Sleepy Hollow and it's up to Katrina, Ichabod, and young Masbeth to solve the case of the Headless Horseman. Told from Katrina Van Tassel's point of view and is based off the movie version of Sleepy Hollow. I do not own the story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I do not own Sleepy Hollow, all characters and story are made from Washington Irving.
1. Murder in Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow, 1799 (Based off movie)

"Murder! Murder!" A voice calls out in the distance. I twirl my head around so I am facing where the voice had called. My long, blond, curly hair swishes and hits my face, I quickly brush it away.

"Murder?" I whisper to my families maid, Sarah. "Do you think the Hessian has struck again?"

"Yes, I think that is what he said. But, I don't think there is any need to worry about Headless Horsemen riding around, Ma'am. It is only the figment of ghost stories." She replies soothingly as she tends to our garden.

I try to believe her I really do, but after the second, well now actually the third beheading, in the past two days, and now I cannot help but think that maybe there is a little more too it than just murder in Sleepy Hollow.

"Katrina! Come inside dear. It isn't safe outside!" My stepmother, Lady Van Tassel calls.

"You should come in too," I tell Sarah, "It isn't safe working out here while the Hessian is galloping around!" I tell her.

"Yes, thank you Ma'am," She replies as she picks up her garden gloves. I pick up my skirts and walk to my families mansion, Sarah follows closely behind.

When I reach the doorstep my stepmother greets me with a warm smile, "You better go upstairs and get your new dress on. The ball is being held here tonight and you need to look your very best!" I smile, nod, walk through the doorway, and begin walking up the stairs to my bedroom on the third floor.

I reach my room and push open the door and step inside. It is plain white with a closet, four-poster bed, duvet, and vanity. I sashay over to my closet and pull it open. Inside I find my four plain gowns and my new gown. I pull it out and examine it. It is the palest pink with a long, flowing skirt, lace around the bodice and bottom of the skirt, and has a darker pink sash tied around the middle. I sigh, pink is not one of my favorite colors, I prefer blues or greens, but no matter. I pull off my simple blue gown and pull on the new one. It fits perfectly, I look into the mirror. An eighteen year old girl with big, hazel eyes, long curly blond hair down to my stomach, and button noise stairs back at me. I've been called beautiful before, even the most beautiful and kindest girl in Sleepy Hollow, but sometimes I have a difficult time believing it. I can point out every flaw even now as I look into the mirror. The darkest in my eyes that always makes me look frightened, tiny mouth, ghost pale skin, I look away.

And, even though I am not in the mood for a dance tonight, because the newest death, I pull on my most shining smile and walk down the stairs. I am greeted with the flickering of candlelight and the upbeat dancing music.

"Good evening Katrina," A familiar voice greets me as I'm kissed on the cheek.

"Hello Brom," I turn and say. "'Tis a perfect night for a ball don't you think?" I lie.

"But, of course," He smiles. Brom is to be married to me sometime, but we are not yet engaged.

"Brom," My father calls to him, "I have news to discuss."

"One minute Mr. Van Tassel," Bram calls back and smiles to me.

He leans in for a kiss, but I push him away with a smile, "It could be important." He gives me another small smile and walks toward my father. It's not that I don't like Brom, I do, it's just that I haven't had a say in the marriage and there could be so many more amazing people out there, I just haven't met them yet.

A circle of ladies and men have been made and one of my friends, Sophie, motions for me to join them.

"I think we should play Wickity Witch!" She tells everyone in the circle, they all nod. I start to back away.

"I don't think..." I begin to say when I'm cut off by Sophie.

"I think that Katrina should go first!"

"But, I don't think that would be a very good idea..." I am abruptly cut off by Sophie again.

"Come on Katrina it will be fun!" She smiles her bright smile and I can't argue any more.

"Ok, I will go." I finally say, smiling lightly. Ever since I told Sophie about trying to find new people she's been trying in any way possible to get me to meet another man, and Wickity Witch is the perfect way to do it. How you play is one person, usually a women, goes into the middle of a circle of people of the opposite gender, and then the person in the middle twirls four times then walks around the circle of people until she/he picks another. Once the person is picked the person in the middle is to kiss the chosen person. Sophie finds this game a ton of fun, but I dislike it very much, but I don't want to displease Sophie. So, I go into the middle of the men and tie on the blindfold Sophie has given me and twirl around four times, and then the game begins.

"Who's got a kiss for the Wickity Witch? Who's got a kiss for the Wickity Witch?" I say as I roam around the circle of men. I finally choose a man who stiffens under my touch. I reach up and feel his face, "Is it Theodore?" I ask.

" No. Pardon, miss, I am only a stranger." I strange voice I do not know replies. Strange there is not a person in Sleepy Hollow I cannot identify by voice.

"Then have a kiss on account," I say, kissing him lightly on the cheek. I then pull off the blindfold and look up after whom I have kissed. He is a handsome man with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and is a head taller than me. His handsomeness catches me off guard at first and I'm just about to tell him that I haven't seen him before when I turn my head and see that Brom has been watching me this entire time. I quickly step away from the man and look toward Brom. He doesn't look very pleased.


	2. Meeting Ichabod Crane

"I am looking for Baltus Van Tassel," He tells me sheepishly.

"I am Katrina Van Tassel, his daughter," I reply looking around for my father.

"And you have not yet told us your name!" Brom says unhappily.

"I better go find him..." The man starts to walk off. My gaze follows him.

"Mind your manners!" Brom grabs the mans shoulder and turns him around so he is facing him.

"Brom!" I nearly shout.

"Lets have no raised voices," My father calls as he walks down the stairs with my stepmother in toe.

"We have hosted this party to brighten hearts in these such dark times." He says. I nod and look pointedly toward Brom. He lets go of the man's shoulder.

The man steps out and holds a hand out to my father, "I am Constable Ichabod Crane," Ichabod tells my father, "I have come to figure out the strange happenings of the murders in Sleepy Hollow."

"Ichabod," I think to myself. I will have to remember that name.

"Than Sleepy Hollow is thankful Constable Crane," My stepmother tells him with a warm smile, "And, you will be staying here of course.""Thank you, Lady Van Tassel," Ichabod replies with the first smile I've seen him wear tonight.

"Mrs. Van Tassel will show you to your room now," my father tells Ichabod.

"Thank you, again," another smile from Constable Crane.

My stepmother leads him up the stairs and out of sight. I sigh heavily and turn back to Brom and his hopeful smile. I smile slightly back, "I'm suddenly feeling very tired, could you excuse me Brom?" I give him the most dazzling smile I can muster.

"Of course Katrina," He says without a fault in his smile, but I can see in his eyes that he is hurt, but I pretend not to notice it.

I walk up the stairs to my room and push open the door, walk inside and lock it. I walk to my dresser animatedly and grab my bedclothes, still thinking intently about Ichabod Crane.

"I wonder why he wants to help us," I think as I change, "He was probably forced. Nobody would come willingly to help diminish the Hessian."

I lie down in bed, covering myself with the wool blankets, "If I have the chance I'll talk to him tomorrow and ask," I promise myself.

I turn off the light and close my eyes, exhausted from all the days drama. "Yes, I will ask him why he has come here," and that is the last thing I think before I drift off into a deep sleep clouded with dreams of the Hessian and Ichabod Crane.


	3. A Nightmare From Death

**I know this is not the most popular story, but I thank everyone who has read, favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. I'm sorry about the late updates! I'll try to update this story faster and write longer chapters!**

**Btw I do not own the story of Sleepy Hollow nor the movie.**

* * *

_Blood is sleek on his white-hot sword. I can feel the heat of it as he rides closer, closer. I scream in pain as I'm pushed to the ground. I look up and see black horse hooves a foot away from my face. I want to scream again, but I find I can't. I'm struck suddenly when an eerie calm washes over my body. _

_"What do you want from me?" I whisper, tears staining my cheeks and my hair in tangles blowing wildly around in the breeze. _

_I'm answered with only the sound of wind blowing through the autumn trees. Then, I hear the sickly sound of a sword swishing through the air. I close my and await the quick death, but nothing comes. I reopen my eyes only to find I see black. Then, as if a cloth is being lifted from my eyes I can see again. But, instead of seeing though my eyes I'm looking at myself._

_I stare at myself with bewilderment. Tears traveling down my eyes in clear lines, eyes closed tightly in fear._

_"What is happening?" I ask myself. But, I immediately understand when the sword comes down on the back of my neck. _

_There is no blood as my head rolls agonizingly slowly towards my other form. And, when the head stops rolling, so I can look into my face, it is white with one little trickle on blood right above my left eyebrow. I attempt to scream, but I find that I have no mouth, so I just stare at my head with terror...until it starts speaking. _

_"Your next Katrina," it whispers, lips moving slowly, "The Headless Horsemen will find you and take your head. Don't try to hide, he will find you..."_

I wake up with a jolt in my bed covered in a sheen of sweat, breathing heavily. I jump up from bed, clutching my heart.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream," I try to tell myself, but for some reason I feel there is a deeper meaning behind it than just being a dream.

I grab one of my favorite romance novels my beside table and walk quietly to the door. I'm just about to walk out to the family library to read, something a like to do when I can't get to sleep or in this case don't want to go back to sleep, when I hear voices outside my door. I abandon thoughts of the library and press my ear up to the thick oak door in an attempt to hear better.

"...and so it has been for twenty years. But now the Hessian wakes-he is on the rampage, cutting off heads where he finds them." I can tell that, that is my father's voice speaking. I press closer to the door, breathing as quietly as I can.

"Are you... saying...? Is that what you believe?" I gasp quietly at the sweet bewildered sound of Ichabod's voice.

"Seeing is believing!"

"That would be Hardenbrook," I think to myself.

"No one knows why the Hessian has chosen this time to return from the grave," Doctor Lancaster says solemnly.

"Satan has called forth one of his own!" Steenwyck says picking up something. I can't tell what it is, but I can tell that he is angry.

"They tell me you have brought books and trappings of scientific investigation," Steenwyck continues, "This is the only book I recommend you study!" He drops the book on the table with a loud bang making me jump.

"Nonsense," Ichabod says, and I a stab a sorrow for his studies being insulted like that.

Ichabod coughs and continues in a stronger voice, "Reverend Steenwyck...gentlemen... murder needs no ghost to come from the grave. Which of you has laid eyes on this Headless Horsemen" There is a pause before Hardenbrook replies in a voice so low I have to strain my ears to hear what he says.

"Others have. Many others"

"You will see him too if he comes again. The men of the village are posted to watch for him." My father says in a superior tone.

"We have murders in New York without benefit of ghouls and goblins," Ichabod says knowingly.

"You are a long way from New York, sir," Father retorts.

"A century at least," Ichabod says sarcastically, "The assassin is a man of flesh and blood, and I will discover him."

"And how do you propose to do so?" Steenwyck asks in a mocking tone. I find myself asking the same question, but with genuine concern. How can he find the Hessian without getting killed?

"By discovering his reason," Ichabod says with certainty, "It is what we call "the motive." This mystery will not resist investigation by a Rational Man!"

With that I hear people standing and walking away.

"Well, if you are so certain you can discover the Hessian than proceed to do so," my father says, "Goodnight Constable."

I stand with my ear against the door my breathing barely a whisper until I'm sure everyone had left and the lamp extinguished. Tiredly I tread to my chair in the corner of my room and sit down. I look out the window, It must be close to one in the morning. I crack open my book and try to read the woods, but they only end up blurring together. I rub my eyes and will myself not to fall asleep.

I finally close my eyes and begin to think of the conversation that previously went on outside my bedroom.

"What if Ichabod Crane is right and it is only a murderer? But, that can't be true...can it? Many of the town have seen the Hessian and heard him ridding and killing," I think to myself, trying to come up with the most rational explanation, "What if he gets himself killed trying to save us? Then who will keep the Headless Horsemen out of Sleepy Hollow?"

My thoughts begin to drift back to the dream I had in the hours previous.

_"Your next Katrina," _it had said, _"The Headless Horsemen will find you and take your head. Don't try to hide, he will find you..." _And that is where the dream ended.

"Could there be more to it, but I woke up and missed it? Could it mean something? And, what did it mean your next? Well, it was clearly trying to tell me that I was the next victim, but for some reason I had doubts about it. Just sleep on it," I end up deciding, "And maybe it will come to you."

So I get up from the chair and walk over to my bed, set my book down, and climb into the now freezing covers. I curl up into a ball in an attempt to keep warm and close my eyes, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Woo! That was a pretty long chapter in my book! But, now we'll have to wait and see what Katrina does next! Btw to those who care my mom is making yummy pancakes for dinner and they're almost done! *mouth waters* Please Review and I will be extra happy!**


	4. Waking, Waiting

**Thanks everyone for the support and I'm up to about 141 views on this story! Woo Hoo! I'll keep updating and keep trying to write lengthy chapters! Please read and review and I'll make extra special, wonderful chapters! In this chapter also I'm going to change it up a bit from the movie, because this part Katrina is not really in it, so I'm adding her in!**

**Btw thanks everyone who reviewed! (also, I'm writing another story it's Phantom of the Opera. So if you like Phantom of the Opera check it out! It's called "A Red Rose Tied with Black Ribbon" or you can just go on my page and read it!)**

* * *

I wake up, groan, and tangle myself back up in the covers, desperate to keep the cold at bay. I close my eyes and utter a quick prayer that I'll be able to go back to sleep. I reopen my eyes and sneek a quick glance out the window only to see dew on the pane and the sun coming over the horizon. I groan again and pull myself unhappily from the covers. Then, as I walk over to my dresser everything from the previous night comes rushing back to me, and I remember I have to talk to my father and Ichabod. And, for some reason I feel like I need to take extra care getting dressed.

I pull my white nightgown over my head and pull on the dark blue dress covered with embroidered purple flowers. I pull the brush through my long, curly, blond hair with more care then I should. I pull the top of my hair into a ponytail and put on my shoes. When I step out my door it is silent and the only thing that is out of place is the bible in the middle of the room, but I pay no mind to it. I walk down the stairs and into the foyer only to see Constable Crane shuffling through papers on the table.

"What are you looking at?" I ask him.

He jumps a bit in his seat and looks up at me and says, "Nothing," a little too quickly. He starts to put away all the papers he had been looking through in his satchel.

"What are those papers for?"

"Nothing," Ichabod answers buckling the satchel and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Well clearly it isn't "nothing" but since you are helping us I will choose to ignore it," I answer back cheekily, "Can you at least tell me where you are off to?"

"I'm going to see the kind of England," He says sarcastically.

I glower at him, deciding that I didn't like men that keep secrets.

"I don't trust people who keep secrets," I tell him, turning on my heel and walking into the dining room.

I sit at the large, oak table and spoon myself some eggs and ham. I take an un-ladylike bite of my ham and chew angrily. After I'm finished with my breakfast I walk outside and into the gardens. It's my place to think. I'm staring at the waterlilies floating gently in the small pond we own when I see Ichabod walk out the side door of our house, look around, and speed walk into town.

I think to myself that I only have two options. One I can continue to look at flowers alone or two I can follow Ichabod to where ever he's going. And, to me, number two sounds like the better option. I pick up my skirts and run to catch up with Ichabod.

Once I'm a far enough distance away from him not to notice me, but close enough to see what he is doing I begin to walk, pretending to look intensely at the merchandise in the windows of passing shops. I notice that Ichabod had walked into the post office while I fake looking carefully at some ribbon outside a store. After he's all the way inside the post shop I walk up and look inside the window carefully, hoping not to catch the attention of any passer byes.

He is showing the post man a long letter and pointing to it in a frustrated manner. I can't hear anything they are saying so I decide to take a risk and walk into the shop, hoping that I'll catch the end of there heated conversation.

The bell jingles lightly as I open the door and both Ichabod and the post man turn around to see who came in. I mentally curse the bell giving away cover.

"Well, I guess that's all I needed, thank you, sir," Constable Crane says hastily, picking up his things and walking briskly out the door.

I scowl inside my head for not hearing anything, but I walk up to the old man just as he says "How are you Miss. Katrina? Is there anything I can do for you today?"

"Yes, actually. I was wondering what Constable Crane was doing just then?" I inquire sweetly, putting on a smile.

"Well, I'm not supposed to talk about clients personally, Miss," He tells me nervously, wringing his hands on the table.

"Please," I say, batting my eyelashes, "I think you'll understand. He is staying at our house for the duration of his stay, and I'm just making sure that he doesn't get into any trouble."

"Well...maybe...in that case...I will tell you he was asking about a will," the post man tells me, speaking quietly.

"Who's will? What will?" I ask dropping my seductive demeanor.

"I really sorry Miss. Katrina, but I'm afraid that's all I can tell you," he tells me, giving me an understanding smile.

"That's ok," I say disappointingly, "Thank you for your time."

"Anytime Miss," He says as I walk out the door and back into the streets.

I look around, but I've lost Ichabod, so I decide to go back home and take a long bath and get ready for dinner.

* * *

_Twenty minutes later in Katrina's bedroom_

As I sit in the rose scented and bubble bathed water and desperately try to decipher what the man had told me about the Constable and the will.

"Who's will could it be? Why does Ichabod Crane need a will? What does it have to do will the Headless Horseman?" The questions bounce around and around inside my head as I sink further into the scented bath water. I check the clock on my bathroom wall and see that it is nearly five, and I decide to put off the questions until I go to bed for the night.

I tiredly pull myself out of the bath and watch the water slosh back and forth in the tub. I towel my body off and pull my dress back on, rubbing off the dirt stain at the bottom left corner of the dress. I yank on my white stockings and shoes, yawn, and drag myself out the door.

When, I reach the the dining room I see that everyone is already seated and the only available seat is next to Ichabod. I try to hide everything I know from my face, take a deep breath and sit down.

Dinner is served shortly after, and I do everything I can to avoid eye contact with the Constable. I just stare at my plate and eat quietly, making small talk with the other people at the table, besides Ichabod Crane of course. After, dessert is served and eaten, I excuse myself from the table, and once out of site, bound up the stairs and dash into my room.

Once inside, I shut the door and sit in my rocking chair, pick up my book, and try to calm my pounding heart. I open the book to the bookmarked page, but even though my eyes are on the words and I'm reading, none of the words or sentences register in my brain. Eventually, I give up on reading and flop into bed, hoping to just be able to go to sleep early.

I lay for the longest time just staring at the ceiling, watching the shadows and fading sunlight dance along the walls, thinking. I think about the will until my brain has twisted and wormed it's way around every possible conclusion, and I fall into sleep.

* * *

_Hours later in the middle of the night_

I am awoke by the sound of a gunshot. I immediately bolt up in bed, my heart pounding. I listen intently for the next couple of minutes until I'm sure I just dreamed the sound. And, just as I'm about to lie back down in bed and go back to sleep I hear an ear piercing scream and the unmistakable sound of a sword swishing through the calm night air.

* * *

**Oh no. Someone just got killed by the Hessian. Who could it be? And why is Ichabod looking for a will? You'll just have to wait until the next chapter for the details. Please review *big hopeful smile***


	5. Quick note from the author

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry to tell you this, but it's that time of year and school has started. I have started at school and I have lots o' homework! So, it might take a while to update my fanfiction, but I promise I've started the new chapters for each of my fanfictions! A big thanks to everyone who reads my stuffs!**


End file.
